Card weight

ABSTRACT

A WEIGHT FOR BEARING ON A STACK OF CARDS WHICH ARE DISPOSED IN A VERTICAL HOPPER AND ARE FED ONE AT A TIME FROM THE BOTTOM OF THE STACK AND INCLUDING ONE-WAY ENGAGING MEANS CARRIED BY THE WEIGHT AND EFFECTIVE ON THE SIDES OF THE HOPPER FOR HOLDING THE WEIGHT AGAINST UPWARD MOVEMENT BUT ALLOWING IT TO MOVE FREELY DOWNWARDLY.

March 16, 1971 c. J. KELLERMAN CARD WEIGHT 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Jan. '7 1969 FIG 2 /mfm/r.

CLARENCE J. KELLERMAN March 16, 1971 c. J. KELLERMAN 3,570,845

CARD WEIGHT Filed Jan. 7, 1969 y 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 United States Patent O 3,570,845 CARD WEIGHT Clarence .1. Kellerman, Rochester, Minn., assignor to International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk,

Filed Jan. 7, 1969, Ser. No. 789,567

Int. Cl. B65l1 1/06 US. Cl. 271-44 5 Claims ABSTRACT F THE DISCLOSURE A weight for bearing on a stack of cards which are disposed in a vertical hopper and are fed one at a time from the bottom of the stack and including one-way engaging means carried by the weight and effective on the sides of the hopper for holding the weight against upward movement but allowing it to move freely downwardly.

The invention relates to card feeding apparatus and more particularly to weights that are positioned on top of stacks of cards being fed one at a time from the bottoms of the stacks.

Document cards, such as those of the type that are perforated and are used in data processing machines, are conventionally fed from stacks of the cards in hoppers by picker knives that oscillate in order to pick off the bottom card from the stack at each oscillation for feeding in a predetermined path for subsequent processing such as punching or printing. In cases in which the cards are fed from a hopper at a high rate of speed, such as from 1,000 to 1,500 cards per minute, a substantial problem in feeding reliability is encountered particularly if the cards are badly warped. This problem is the result of bounce of the stack of cards caused by lifting or dropping by the picker knives. The stack of cards acts as a spring-mass system whose ratio of spring rate to mass is constantly changing; and the manner in which the ratio changes depends on the number of cards in the stack, the amount of warp in the cards, the prior handling that the cards have had, the number of holes punched in the cards, and other environmental conditions of the cards. Because each of these variables can assume many values, the variation of the ratios of spring rate to mass is very great so that there are resultingly many different natural frequencies of the spring mass system.

If one of these natural frequencies is encountered due to the agitation of the card stack by the picker knives, the amplitude of bounce of the cards in the stack increases significantly to reduce the amount of weight from the cards on the picker knives, even to the extent that the cards actually leave the picker knives, whereby the picker knives are no longer effective to feed a card at each oscillation as is necessary for proper Operation of the machine in which the feeding system is disposed.

This problem can be controlled quite successfully when feeding is done at rather low speeds when a card weight is used on top of the stack of cards; however, when the feeding rate is increased into the range of 1,000 to 1,500 cards per minute, the bounce of the stack of cards is violent enough at some of the natural frequencies so that the card weight is virtually thrown off the stack and a misfeed occurs.

It is an object of the present invention to provide an improved system for restraining a stack of cards being fed from one end of a hopper and which so controls the amplitude of bounce of the cards when one of the natural frequencies is encountered that the cards never leave positions in which the picker knives are capable of feeding them from the bottom of the stack and so as to prevent card misfeed due to this cause. More particularly, it

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is an object of the present invention to provide an improved card weight resting on top of such a stack of cards that is so constructed that the weight is prevented from leaving the stack.

A preferred form of card weight for attaining these objects is one that is provided with one-way engaging means effective on the sides of the hopper so that the card weight is prevented from moving upwardly in the hopper under operating conditions but may freely move downwardly in the hopper as the stack of cards is depleted. The one-way engaging means may, for example, take the form of friction elements mounted on leaf springs that extend upwardly toward the sides of the hopper or one-way engaging clutches in the form of bearings that are held in contact with the sides of the hoppers or ratchet mechanisms including racks formed in the sides of the hopper.

The invention consists of the novel constructions, arrangements and devices to be hereinafter described and claimed for carrying out the above-stated objects, and such other objects, as will be apparent from the following description of preferred forms of the invention, illustrated with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a side elevational view of a hopper for a stack of' document cards and including a weight positioned on top of the card stack constructed in accordance with the principles of the invention.

FIG. 2 is a top view of the hopper with the weight positioned therein.

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary side elevational view of a hopper and weight positioned therein, showing a modified construction of one-way engaging means on a card weight.

FIG. 4 is a side elevational view of a hopper and weight7 showing still another modified form of one-way engaging means on a card weight.

FIG. 5 is a side elevational view of a one-way clutch which is included in the FIG. 4 embodiment, with certain parts being broken away for illustrating certain internal parts.

FIG. 6 in a side elevational view of a hopper and weight positioned therein, showing still another modified form of one-way engaging means on a card weight.

Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, the illustrated card feeding apparatus may be seen to comprise a hopper 10 formed of two sides 11 and 12, a back 13, and a bottom 14. It will be observed that the hopper 10 is open in the front and that the sides 11 and 12 and the back 13 present substantially plane internal surfaces. The bottom 14 preferably has an upwardly slanted surface 14a which as will hereafter appear, constitutes a surface from which the cards exit from the hopper. The bottom 14 is provided with a horizontal terminal surface 14b, and the side 11 is provided with a throat knife 1.5 which has a sharpened bottom edge extending in close proximity to the surface 14h. A stack of document cards 16 is positioned in the hopper 10, and the distance between the throat knife 15 and the surface 14b is only slightly greater than the thickness of one of the cards 16 so that only one card 16 may pass at a time beneath the throat knife 15; and the throat knife 15 is thus effective to prevent the feeding of more than one card at once.

A pair of picker knives 17 and .'18 are positioned beneath the .side 12 of hopper 10, and each of these knives comprises an arm 19 which is fixed onto a shaft 20. Each of the knives comprises a pair of knife plates 21 and 22 which extend slantwise and upwardly and abut nearly in the center of the respective arm 19, and it will be observed that the knife plate 22 extends farther upwardly than does the knife plate 21 by a distance which is slightly less than the thickness of a card 16. The shaft 20 is oscillated by any suitable drive mechanism (not shown);

and the arrangement of the knife plates 21 and 22, as just described, is such that one edge of the knife plate 22 may contact the adjacent edge of the bottom card 16 of the stack in the hopper which is supported by the knife plate 21, as the shaft 20 and arms 19 are oscillated in a counterclockwise direction as seen in FIG. l. The picker knives 17 and 18, on such oscillation, engage the bottommost card in the stack and propel it through the gap between the throat knife and the surface 14b of the bottom 14 of the hopper 10.

Pairs of hopper feed wheels 23 and 24 are positioned adjacent the throat knife 15 and have nips which are substantially at the same level as the surface 14b. One of the feed wheels 23 and 24 of each pair is driven by any suitable drive mechanism (not shown) so that the bottommost card 16 of the card stack, after it passes through the gap between the throat knife 15 and the surface 14b, is received in the nips of the feed wheels 23 and 24 and is thus drawn completely out of the hopper 10.

A card weight 25 is positioned in the hopper 10 on the top of the stack of cards 16. The card weight 25 includes a plurality of leaf springs 26 each of which is fixed by means of a screw 27 to the bottom of the weight 25 and is bent to extend downwardly from the screw 27. Each of the springs 26 is provided with a turned-up portion 26a on its end which bears ou the cards 16 adjacent the side edges of the cards.

The card weight 25 is provided with opposite slots 28 and 29 formed therethrough, and a pair of leaf springs 30 and 31 extend slightly upwardly through the slots and are fixed at their inner ends to bottom surface portions of the weight 25 by means of screws 32. Cylindrical parts 33 and 34, of frictional materials, are fixed on the ends of the leaf springs 30 and 31; and the parts 33 and 34 may be of rubber or urethane, for example, that is molded on the ends of the leaf springs 30 and 31. The arrangement of the parts is such, as will be observed, that the cylindrical parts 33 and 34 are in contact with the internal surfaces of the hopper sides 11 and 12.

In operation, as the picker knives 17 and 18 oscillate to move successive cards 16 laterally from the bottom of the stack of cards in the hopper 10 out through the gap between the throat knife 15 and the surface 14b for reception and continued movement by the hopper feed wheels 23 and 24, the stack of cards 16 tends to be bounced and oscillated vertically due to this action of the picker knives. Depending on the number of cards 16 in the hopper 10, the manner in which the cards 16 are warped (either upwardly or downwardly in the center), the previous usage that the cards have had, the number of holes previously punched in the cards, and other variations, the ratio of spring rate to mass of the stacked cards may vary quite considerably, so that natural frequencies of oscillation of the stacked cards may be encountered as the cards are fed from the bottom of the hopper 10; and the bounce of the cards would become substantial, were it not for the card weight 25, to bounce the cards upwardly out of contact with the picker knives 17 and 18 so that a misfeed would take place. The card weight 25, bearing on the top card 16 in the stack, is effective to prevent such a substantial amplitude of card oscillation so that the cards remain in contact with the picker knives 17 and 18; and the picker knives thus remain effective to feed cards out of the stack sequentially. This is true even though the cards may be fed from the stack at a high rate of speed, such as 1,000 to 1,500 cards per minute. The weight 25 is particularly effective in this regard due to the operation of the frictional members 33 and 34 on the sides 11 and 12 of the hopper 10. As has been before mentioned, the leaf springs 30 and 31 extend slightly upwardly; and the members 33 and 34 may thus wedge against the sides of the hopper tending to put the leaf springs 30 and 31 and the cylindrical members 33 and 34 in compression as the weight tends to be moved upwardly in the hopper due to some Cil of these natural frequencies of oscillation being attained. The frictional members 33 and 34, under these conditions, grip and wedge on the plane internal surfaces of the hopper sides 11 and 12 and prevent the cards from oscillating upwardly which would otherwise occur, so that the frictional elements 33 and 34, acting as wedges, thus hold the cards in contact with the hopper bottom 14 and with the picker knives 17 and 18. As the cards 16 are depleted in the hopper 10, the hopper weight moves downwardly in the hopper, and the leaf springs and 31 flex slightly upwardly to release the pressure between the frictional members 33 and 34 and the hopper sides 11 and 12 to allow downward movement of the weight 25, due to the fact that the springs 30 and 31 extend slightly upwardly from the attachment screws 32 as before mentioned. Thus, it is apparent that the frictional members 33 and 34 and the springs 3()` and 31, extending as they do slightly upwardly, function as one-way engaging means between the weight `25 and the hopper sides 11 and 12 allowing substantially free movement of the weight 25 downwardly but preventing any upward movement of the weight 25 in the hopper 10.

Although the leaf springs 30 and 31 are shown to have the same thickness, they may, if desired, be made of different thicknesses so as to have different resiliencies. It will be observed that the picker knives 17 and 18 are effective on the right edge of the stack of cards as illustrated in FIG. 1; and, therefore, the principal vibration of the stack of cards may be on this side of the card stack. The greatest amount of vibration will be taken by the leaf spring 30 and the resilient member 33; and thus the leaf spring 30 may be made thinner and more resilient than the leaf spring 31, if desired.

In order to remove the weight 25 from the hopper 10 after the supply of cards 16 has been exhausted, the weight 25 may be simply moved out of the open front of the hopper 10 or, alternately, the weight 25 may be turned within the hopper, in order to release it, either clockwise or counter-clockwise as seen in FIG. 1.

In order to facilitate release of the frictional members 33 and 34, a pair of finger-gripping portions 35 and 36 may be fixed onto the leaf springs 30 and 31 as shown in FIG. 3. The portions 35 and 36 extend toward the center of the weight 25 and are provided with backwardly bent end portions 35a and 36a, respectively, which may be gripped by the fingers; and when the portions 35a and 36a are moved toward each other by this gripping action, the leaves 30 and 31 are flexed upwardly so as to effectively move the cylindrical friction members 33 and 34 out of contact with the hopper sides 11 and 12, allowing the weight 25 to be freely moved out of the hopper 10 either upwardly or through the open front of the hopper.

Friction-surfaced one-way clutches 37 and 38 in the form of bearings may be substituted for the cylindrical friction members 33 and 34 that are xed on the ends of the springs 30 and 31 in the first-described embodiment. The one-way clutch 37 comprises an inner race 39 (see FIG. 5), an outer race 40, and a series of rollers 41 disposed between the inner and outer races. The outer race 40 is provided with a plurality of wedge surfaces 42, and a roller 41 is provided in connection with each of the wedge surfaces 42 so that it may wedge between the surface 42 and the outer surface of the inner race 39. A tire 43 of resilient material, such as rubber or urethane, is molded onto the outer surface of the race 40. The inner race 39 is provided with a pair of lugs 44 on opposite ends; and these are fixed onto the outer end of a leaf spring 30a which corresponds to the spring 30 in the first-named embodiment.

The one-way clutch 38 is identical with the one-way clutch 37 except that it allows free rotation in the opposite direction (clockwise, instead of counter-clockwise) looking at the clutch 38 from the same side of the weight 25. The one-way clutch 38 is fixed on the end of an arm 31a that corresponds with the leaf spring 31; but the arm is preferably rigid for the same reasons as described above in connection with a modification in which the spring 31 is made stiffer than the spring 30.

The modified card weight illustrated in FIGS. 4 and 5 operates in the same manner as the first-described embodiment of weight 25 except that the rollers 41 in the one-way clutches 37 and 38 disengage with respect to the wedge surfaces 42 and inner races 39 for a downward movement of the weight 25, with the outer races 40 freely rotating with respect to the inner races 39 for this movement of the weight 25; and there is no substantial relative movement between the outer surfaces of the clutches 37 and 38 and the inner surfaces of the hopper sides 11 and 12. The rollers 41 wedge between the wedge surfaces 42 and the inner races 39 for tendencies of the weight 25 to move upwardly under the impact action of the picker knives 17 and 18 and any vertical oscillations of the cards 16 at natural frequencies so as to prevent oscillation of the stacked cards with respect to the picker knives 17 and 18.

The embodiment of the weight 25 illustrated in FIG. 6 also utilizes one-way engaging means for preventing undesired upward movement of the Weight 25; however, in this case, the one-way engaging means comprises a pair of ratchet leaf springs 301) and 31b which are substituted for the springs 30 and 31 in the first-described embodiment and which lack the cylindrical friction members 33 and 34. In this embodiment, a pair of racks 45 and 46 are respectively laid in the hopper sides 11 and 12, Each of the racks includes surfaces 47 slanting downwardly toward the center of the hopper and substantially horizontal surfaces 48 connecting the surfaces 47. The leaf springs 30]; and 31b slide downwardly along the slanting surfaces 47 as the weight 25 moves downwardly in the hopper and move underneath the horizontal surfaces 48 which engage the ends of the springs 30b and 31h to prevent upward movement of the weight 25.

The various forms of the invention are each operative to prevent movement of the bottommost card 16 in the hopper 10 from moving out of contact with the picker knives 17 and 18 even though the cards 16 may be badly wraped and even though various natural frequencies of oscillation may be occurring as the card stack is depleted, with a changing ratio of spring rate of the stack to mass. The card feeding apparatus of the invention thus constitutes a very reliable card feeding means even though the cards are fed at a high rate, such as in the range of 1,000 to 1,500 cards per minute.

It is to be understood that the invention is not to be limited to the specific constructions and arrangements shown and described, except only insofar as the claims may be so limited, as it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that changes may be made without departing from the principles of the invention.

What is claimed is:

1. Apparatus for feeding cards sequentially from one end of a stack of cards and comprising:

a pick mechanism for engaging the card on one end of a stack of cards and sliding it laterally from the stack,

a member bearing on the other end of the stack, and

one-way engaging means effective on said member and allowing movement of the member toward the end of the stack from which cards are being fed and preventing substantial movement of the member in the other direction, and

a hopper for holding the cards in a stack, said oneway engaging means being carried by said member and being effective on internal side surfaces of the hopper and comprising a pair of one-way clutches on opposite sides of said member and engaging opposite internal side surfaces of said hopper to allow movement of said member in one direction but preventing substantial movement of said member in the other direction as aforesaid.

2. Card feeding apparatus as set forth in claim 1, each of said one-way clutches comprising:

an inner race fixed with respect to said member,

an outer race,

wedge elements between said inner and outer races to allow said outer race to rotate in only one direction, and

a tire of friction material disposed on said outer race for engaging the adjacent internal hopper surface.

3. Apparatus for feeding cards sequentially from one end of a stack of cards and comprising:

a pick mechanism for engaging the card on one end of a stack of cards and sliding it laterally from the stack,

a member bearing on the other end of the stack,

one-way engaging means effective on said member and allowing movement of the member toward the end of the stack from which cards are being fed and preventing substantial movement of the member in the other direction, and

a hopper for holding the cards in a stack, said one-way engaging means being carried by said member and being effective on internal side surfaces of the hopper and including a pair of leaf springs extending from said member in opposite directions into proximity with said hopper internal side surfaces,

a rack formed on said side surfaces having tooth surfaces extending inwardly and slantwise toward the end of the stack from which cards are being fed, and

other connecting tooth surfaces at angles to said firstnamed tooth surfaces against which said leaf springs wedge to prevent movement of said member away from the end of the stack from which cards are being fed.

35 44. In combination, a hopper for holding a plurality of cards in a stack for sequential feeding from one end of the stack,

a member positioned on the other end of the stack for applying force on the stack, and

one-way engaging means effective between said hopper and said member for allowing movement of said member toward the end of the stack from which cards are being fed and preventing substantial movement of said member in the other direction, said oneway engaging means including one-Way clutches on opposite sides of said member having outer races movable in one direction but held from movement in the other direction and engaging opposite side surfaces of said hopper.

5. In combination, a hopper for holding a plurality of cards in a stack for sequential feeding from one end of the stack,

a member positioned on the other end of the stack for applying force on the stack, and

one-way engaging means effective between said hopper and said member for allowing movement of said member toward the end of the stack from which cards are being fed and preventing substantial movement of said member in the other direction, said oneway engaging means including leaf springs carried by and extending in opposite directions from said member and rack teeth provided on opposite side internal surfaces of said hopper to be engaged by said leaf springs.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,811,352 10/1957 Bornemann 271-30X 2,928,672 3/ 1960 Johnson et al. 271-32 2,938,722 5/ 1960 Luning 271-44 

